


Chatting and Photos

by ValeRossi1416



Category: Robotboy (Cartoon)
Genre: Character Study, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Motherhood, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 19:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16435235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValeRossi1416/pseuds/ValeRossi1416
Summary: While Tommy is away at school, Deb decides to show Robotboy a family album so they can have a good time. And the situation takes a 180° turn.





	Chatting and Photos

Another day passes, it's another day that Tommy has to leave to school and today was one of those days where the boy decided to leave Robotboy at home. Usually, the tiny robot would've spent the day bored out of his circuits or lamenting that his not-a-real-boy condition makes him unable to be exposed to public places where large crowds are often present, or both. And while the latter still somewhat applies, Robotboy could now enjoy of a wider freedom, ever since Deb, mother of the family, discovered his identity. Sure, it was hard at first, but once she got used to him, she slowly started to treat him as a son of her own and Ro couldn't be happier.  
  
There were often times where Tommy would leave Robotboy deactivated, to spare his friend's battery life and the inevitable boredoom that'd come, but now he'd usually leave him in his conscious state, because he knew that Ro could interact with his mother freely. Deb liked Robotboy, so it was a win-win. Sometimes, the blue-and-white companion had to be carefull still, because sometimes Donnie or Dwight would be home too, and the three had agreed that those two macho heads still weren't ready to know the truth. But there were times were only Deb was home and Robotboy adored those days! The two of them could just chatter, watch TV, or even go to the park and play the games that usually Tommy and his robot would play together.  
  
Today, after Deb had done everything that needed to be done in the house, a new thing was added on the "What to do when Tommy's not home" list. Robotboy knew Deb liked to read, but he personally hadn't really read any meaningul literature of his own, so they did not share the same passion towards books, which is why Ro wasn't interested when he spot the woman with a bulky book on her lap. Despite that, she motioned him to come over anyway and maybe sit on the couch if he wanted to. With a smile she was patting the spot next to her. Robotboy flew over and sat, taking a look at the book's title.  
  
"Album?" Said Robotboy curiously, as if waiting to be answered that it was indeed an album, whatever it is. He wasn't a book expert by any means, but he noticed something was off with the cover. "Why there no author?"  
  
"Albums don't really have authors." Deb explained happily. "They're like books, but instead of words, they're composed of photos. See?" And then she opened the album, falling on the first page. Now Robotboy could see what she was talking about. The first photo was of Dwight and Deb, both looking a lot younger, at the beach. Deb pointed at the year number that was on top of the picture. "This is from 1992, fifteen years ago! Dwight and I had married shortly before. There are more photos, as you can see. There he is just playing with my hair for no reason." She commented, with a laugh. "And, oh! I love this one! The sunset was particularly beautiful that afternoon, so we asked a friend to take a picture of us together." She said, now with a bit of nostalgia in her voice.  
  
Robotboy, meanwhile, was simply watching and listening attentively. Is this something humans often do? Capture special moments of their lives and store them in 'albums' that they can later check on whenever they want? That seemed logical. Humans have limited memory capacity, so having an archive of moments they don't want to forget seemed like a good idea. He kept taking all the information he could from this new thing he was learning.  
  
"That's from a July 4th party we went to and this is from when we went to the Maison de Rêves! Beautiful place, though the food wasn't as good. It still isn't." She commented casually. This last phrase, combined with the three pictures that were on the page caught Robotboy's attention.  
  
"Then why Mom belly so big?" He asked, tracing his finger down the photos, that showed the woman's abdomen, indeed, growing larger. She blinked, confused for just a second, before just laughing it off.   
  
"That's not food, Robotboy. I was just pregnant." She told him. Did he not know what pregnant means? She guessed so, since she couldn't really think of a scenario where Tommy would've told the robot about this natural human phenomenom. Her doubts were confirmed when he asked her what 'pregnant' meant, so she proceeded to explain. "Look, humans basically... come out of their mothers' bellies." She said, gaining a surprised look from Robotboy. "Yes, at that time, I had Donnie inside of me. In fact, if we turn the page, you'll see it." And so she turned the page. The photos now were of her, Dwight and even Grandma T holding a baby Donnie.  
  
Robotboy was honestly taken aback by this new fact. He knew babies were very young, new humans, but he never really cared about where they came from. He never thought the answer could be, well... that. They come from inside other humans, their mothers. He knew robots and humans were wildly different and didn't truly expect for the latter to be created through the same mechanisms as the former, but still.  
  
"Donnie? How he get inside?" He asked Deb, emitting a few confused beeps and pointing at her midsection.  
  
"Well, let's say he was created inside of me. For nine months I fed him and basically gave him everything he needed to grow and develop, until he was too big to fit and had to get out." Answered the woman, not really sure if she wanted to keep answering if the robot's questions started to lean more towards the process of birth. He may be the world's most advanced fighting robot and all, but most of the time, when he was simply in his activated mode, he acted as a ten year old, more or less. And she didn't really feel like giving all the details of how birth goes to a metaphorical ten year old.  
  
"Oooh." The robot seemed content enough with that answer and didn't ask any further. His interest was now back on the photos. It was sort of crazy to see Donnie so small and innocent, to be honest. Robotboy had already seen the older brother as a baby before, when they shot him with the reverse version of the aging ray that had brought them so much trouble once. But that lasted for a short time and that Donnie still acted as his usual self. Here, in the photos, he seemed like a totally different person. Well, kind of, his head and face hadn't changed much, but the way he presented himself deviated completely from what Ro was used to see in the current fourteen year old.  
  
Now Robotboy himself was the one to turn the pages, his eyes landing on a photo and then quickly moving on to the next. Now most of them featured Donnie, sometimes alone, sometimes with either one of his parents or the whole family together. Not many pages after he spot one that caught his attention. Once again Deb's stomach seemed bigger than usual. In the next photo it was bigger. And in the next it was even bigger. His eyes lightly turned brighter with expecatation. Taking the new information into account, he was fairly sure that was Tommy inside of Deb. And when he turned the page, he gasped with joy.  
  
"Baby Tommy!"  
  
How exciting! Robotboy had never seen how Tommy was as a baby and gosh, was he adorable! Deb couldn't help but giggle at the robot's happiness. Oh, she's already planning on which stories she could tell Robotboy, she bet he'd love to hear some of those!   
  
The blue machine got the album closer to his optical sensors and cooed in awe. "So cute!" Once again there were pictures of Deb and Dwight holding their child, except Donnie was also present, along with Grandma T. He kept turning the pages, one after the other, and while there some photos that looked very nice, there some others that slowly took away the robot's initial happiness.  
  
There was a photo of Tommy laying innocently in his crib, with Donnie grasping the bars firmly to get a look at his baby brother. One thing Robotboy noticed (and that gave him a bad feeling) was that Donnie was  _frowning_  at Tommy. The next picture that included them both had the two boys laying on the ground, playing with toys, but Ro could spot Tommy almost had no toys and Donnie had a lot. Most of the toys the older boy was playing with appeared in the previous photo, inside Tommy's cradle, making the robot suspect they were stolen. Next photo featured a now much older Tommy (7 years old, if Ro had to guess) being given a noogie by his older brother. Respectively, their faces were of discomfort and cruel playfullness. And then a photo of Tommy concentrated on fixing a robot toy. On the ground, pieces of various other robots were scattered all across the kid's room. Knowing that Donnie would sometimes break Tommy's stuff, Ro thought this may have been an ocassion in which the older brother did exactly that and now his poor friend was trying to repair his precious belongings.  
  
Despite there being some photos here and there that were pleasing to look at, these pictures in particular, the ones featuring Tommy and Donnie bugged the little robot and he couldn't stop thinking about those. Finally he dared to ask Deb a question that he's always had. Tommy had heard that question before and he had given him an answer, but it wasn't a satisfying one, so Robotboy wanted another perspective of the matter.  
  
"Why Donnie always bad with Tommy? Tommy never do anything to Donnie."  
  
The question took Deb by surprise and she wasn't really sure on how to answer.  
  
"Well, I'm not sure if "always" is the best word to use here, but..."  
  
"Donnie always bad with Tommy! He always break Tommy stuff and hurt him too! Also hurt Gus and Robotboy! Tommy say no matter, but it matter!"  
  
Robotboy has been wanting to say this for almost as long as he's known the teenage boy. Nearly from the start he could see that the older brother was no good at all, and for some reason Tommy still excused him! Family may be important, but, in Robotboy's perspective, the ones that truly love and care about you are the ones that truly matter, more than those who want to hurt you.  
  
Deb, despite trying to turn the other cheek most of the time, knew that the way her first son treated the second was very inadequate and she really wished they could interact in ways that were much healthier, but sadly that wasn't the case. She couldn't really speak, her silence was like a permission to Robotboy to continue.  
  
"Donnie break Tommy toys, almost break bed me and Tommy make... he even try kill Tommy once!" He said, almost shouting towards the end, angrily smashing the album against his lap, but still trying to be careful as to not detroy the precious photo book. Being brought back to reality only to see Tommy about to get thrown into the woodchipper by his brother was still a memory fresh in his mind and it never failed to make him angry at Donnie or fearful for Tommy's life.  
  
" _Kill?_ " Now Deb couldn't stay silent anymore. Punching and teasing and property destroying were one thing, but killing? She had never witnessed such a thing and her mind was denying it so much, but then again, Robotboy isn't the kind of person to lie and Tommy's life was certainly  _not_  something that you could joke about, having the robot around.  
  
"Long ago, Donnie breaking Tommy toys and Tommy activate Robotboy. Donnie almost throw Tommy in woodchipper!" He said, looking at the mother with sad eyes from remembering. Then, his ears shot up when he remembered another instance in which the blonde kid was nearly done for due to his brother. "Donnie also make Tommy fall from cliff, during trip with Dwight!"  
  
Deb could feel her chest getting tighter at the thought that Tommy faced death more than once and not because of Robotboy, but because of her other son. Donnie had always been the type to misbehave, but where on Earth could he have gotten the idea of ending with Tommy's life?! That was certainly not a thing she had taught him, and she prayed that Dwight wasn't the one to teach him either. She loved Tommy a lot, so much that words couldn't describe it, but how could she deal with the people that harm him the most when they are the other people she cares too much about? She couldn't imagine her life without any of the three men, but if having them all live under the same roof meant one of them could possibly not get to see the day of tomorrow, then...  
  
Her sigh made Robotboy feel sadder than he already felt. Now it wasn't just the memories, but seeing mom get sad was also making him experience that emotion. And he never liked it when his loved ones were sad.  
  
"You good mom. Why Donnie like this? Why Dwight never tell Donnie he wrong?"  
  
"The answer... eludes me." It was at this point that feelings Deb wasn't aware of started to flow out of her. "Donnie has always been a mischievous kid, always full of energy, a big fan of sports and playing pranks on others, but... a big part of who he is now doesn't draw back to the times he was a child. I'm not sure where it started, but Donnie started to take his father's advice more than mine and while I love and trust Dwight with my life, I think that... I think that he doesn't really care about the kids unless they are like how he wants them to be."  
  
Ro has always felt this way towards Dwight, though just now, thanks to Deb, he had the exact words to describe his feelings towards the father and husband. Dwight had been nice to Tommy before, but only when it seemed like he was 'finally' starting to become more like a 'true man', such as when they played thether ball or went fishing. But other than those two ocassions, Robotboy couldn't really think of any other instance where the man had a positive attitude towards his son. With Donnie, however...  
  
"And Donnie be just like Dwight want..." muttered the robot, somewhat to himself and somewhat to Deb as well.  
  
"I don't get why he would even be like that... there's nothing girly about robots! If anything, most people dedicated to robotics are men." She sighed, "If they knew about you, then maybe their perspective would be changed, but we promised we wouldn't do that, at least not anytime soon..."  
  
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "What you said about Donnie nearly trying to... kill Tommy, it still worries me so much. What am I supposed to do? Turns out my son is a bigger danger to him than a literal fighting robot..." Then she lifted her hands to cover her mouth. Her voice had started to break when she spoke the last sentence. This sent an alarm signal to Robotboy's motherboard.  
  
Setting the album aside, the silver-coated companion crawled closer to Deb and hug her arm. She wasn't really crying, at least not yet, but Ro still wanted to offer some kind of comfort.  
  
"How will Dwight even react? He didn't seem phased at all when Tommy got that concussion. I... the only way I can think of to keep him safe is separation, but he won't like the idea  _and I honestly don't like it either!_ " She continued, now openly sobbing. Because of this, Robotboy got even closer to her and tried his best to wrap his short arms around her entirely.   
  
"Donnie and Dwight go live other house?" He asked, as if wanting to confirm that he understood what she meant by  'separation'.  
  
"That's what would happen, yes, if we get separated..." She explained, trying to hold herself together just as to not worry her robot son, "but Dwight won't accept it. Who will cook for him and keep the house clean for him? He doesn't know how to do any of those! Besides, I love him, we've lived together for, what, fifteen years? I'm too used to have him around!"  
  
Love was still a complex emotion that Robotboy did not quite grasp. How can you know something or someone is not the best for you and still love it? Back when he felt like Tommy didn't let Robotboy do anything at all, that he was basically being held back, he was sure he had stopped liking the boy... though turns out he eventually started missing him and went to his rescue without a second thought. This is sort of similar, isn't it? Deb does know Donnie is a danger to Tommy, but she still loves him and Dwight very much, but then again...  
  
"But Mom love Tommy, yes? Want Tommy be okay."  
  
He was right. She did love Tommy. And at the end of the day, if getting away from her husband and first son was the best way to keep him safe... then she had to be willing to accept whatever consequences came with it. She'd probably feel lost and lonely, but at least Tommy, such a tender-hearted boy, would be there. And now Robotboy was too! This would also mean the tiny android would get even more freedom, something she felt he deserved.  
  
"I do want Tommy to be okay... I'll need to talk about this with Dwight." She said, wiping a finger under her nose. Then she placed a hand on Robotboy's back. "Well, thanks for telling me about all this."  
  
The robot looked up at her, with surprise and confusion both painted on his face. "But... Robotboy make Mom cry..."  
  
She smiled down at him. "You weren't the one to make me cry, Robotboy. I kind of was... feeling many emotions at a time. I was scared for Tommy's life, worried for my bond with Dwight, unnerved about what might happen next... But this is something I needed to know. Or rather, I needed to be called out so I would pay proper attention to the elephant in the room."  
  
The robot simply blinked and looked around. "But no elephant here."  
  
"It's an idiom, Robotboy. The elephant in the room is a topic of great importance to everybody that needs to be discussed, but that isn't discussed, because it makes people uncomfortable. To be truthful with you... many times I have willfully ignored the instances in which Donnie bullied Tommy, because if I called him out, then Dwight would jump right to his defense, and I can tell you, it's not a very good idea to get into heated arguments with him..." She said, looking to the side to avoid eye contact with the robot when she was nearly finished. Then she looked down and added something more, "In fact, if he were home right now, I wouldn't dare to speak with you about this, not even by whispering." A dry laugh escaped her, but Ro did not see what was so funny about this. If anything, he considered it to be messed up.  
  
Deb was a really good mom and wife, while Dwight seemed to be the opposite. He was a terrible father for mistreating his younger son while gloryfying everything his older son did, and now he found out he was also a bad husband for being able of getting mad at Deb, because she disapproved of the above mentioned. It had gotten to the point where the woman had thought it best to lay it low, so the fights and drama would be kept to a minimum. This didn't feel like a good family at all. Dwight and Donnie were pretty much lost cases, but Deb could still be redeemed if she put Tommy's security above all else, something she was seriously taking into consideration.  
  
" 'Separation' - good idea. Dwight - bad husband, and Donnie - bad brother. Mom - good, stay with Tommy."  
  
She once again gave him a smile, a genuine one. After a second or two of being in thought, she simply told Ro to scoot closer and she gave him a big, motherly hug, the kind that the silver coated machine adored.  
  
"Thank you, Robotboy. You are such a good addition to the family."  
  
The door suddenly creaked and a pair of feet could be heard walking on the floors. The person walked further into the house and soon became visible for the mother and robot: it was Tommy.  
  
"Hi, Tommy!" Greeted the enthusiastic robot, liberating an arm from the embrace and waving at his bestie.  
  
"Hi..." Greeted Deb, her mind drifting back to what the robot had told her about the younger child. She needed to talk about all that, for sure, but for now she'd just play it casual. "How was school?"  
  
Tommy walked over to them, sporting a smile that was most likely due to seeing the other two being affectionate towards each other. "Eh, it was... wait, is that?" His eyes fell on the album that still lay open on the table and upon seeing some photos that were on that page, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. "Mom! Were you showing Robotboy that?!"

**Author's Note:**

> i swear this was going to be a fluff exclusive fic and it somehow turned into this. im still content with the result.  
> may or may not have a sequel, if anyone's interested.


End file.
